making news this morning, killer storms. >> and those storms are not over just yet. cities torn apart after taking a direct hit from rare winter tornadoes. they're now bracing for more of the same. and breaking news overnight. we watched as the cruise ship inched toward land. hundreds of passengers finally getting their first real food and showers in days. >> relief there, for sure. and breaking bread. a special dinner with veterans. the president talks only to abc news about his apology and the furor over those burned korans. and heart of gold. what meryl streep did after the oscars might be her best performance yet.

good morning, on this march 1st. i'm paula faris. glad to be back after a battle with the flu. >> feeling better. that's good. >> a little bit. >> i'm rob nelson. good morning, everybody. the powerful storms have left major destruction across the heartland and the south as well. tornadoes, some 22 miles long, 400 yards across, took down entire city blocks. >> the winds, hurricane-force, toppling 170 miles an hour. at least 12 people have died. latest victims were in eastern tennessee last night. you can get an idea of the path the storms took by looking at this map. hard-hit cities of harrisburg, illinois, and branson, missouri. the tourist town. >> and the last area hit, west of knoxville, tennessee. more of the same is on it way yet again. we begin coverage with tahman bradley. >> reporter: this morning, towns across the midwest are picking up after at least 16 tornadoes left behind a path of

destruction. survivors say the twister struck in an instant. >> i heard the wind pick up. all at once, it felt like the house was coming apart. the windows blew out. the glass was flying through the house like big knives. >> like a train. just like they say it does. it really did. it sounded like thunder that didn't quit. >> reporter: among the places hardest hit, harrisburg, illinois. 175-mile-an-hour winds. two football fields wide. left six people dead. homing were shredded. a strip mall flattened. entire buildings knocked off their foundations. >> it's unreal. it's like war zone. if you have seen that area. >> reporter: in harveyville, kansas, half the homes in the small town were destroyed. debbie roberts and her husband's 8-year-old grandson, michael, was nearly sucked out of the house when the tornado hit. >> when he got up here, he went airborne.

he hit the coffee table and screamed. and rich reached out to the scream and caught him. >> reporter: brian norton ran into his handicapped daughter's bedroom to bring her to the basement. he had time only to dive on top of her as the ceiling collapsed. >> i pulled her out, we went to the basement, the water ran through the floor, flooding the basement. bay powerful collision of are cold air smacking into warm air. the storms went from nebraska, to kansas and missouri, into illinois and kentucky. tornadoes touched down in the country music mecca of branson, missouri, destroying this hotel and theater. the destruction is enormous. the worst may be yet to come. meteorologists predict another strong system could hit friday with the midwest and south right in the bull's eye. tahman bradley, abc news. >> relentless weather. abc news has a team of reporters spread out across the disaster zone, including chris bury. he'll give us a snapshot of the new normal in harrisburg,

illinois. >> reporter: you can see how powerful this tornado was. this home, among hundreds destroyed in the town of only 9,000. the mayor told us he heard the sirens go off. and then, he knew in his gut that something awful was going to happen. at least six people were killed. entire shopping malls flattened like pancakes. homed ripped apart. cars turned asunder. the damage took only a few moments to inflict. it may take many, many months to rebuild. chris bury, abc news, harrisburg, illinois. >> and mild temperatures where chris is. but this massive storm hit other states with a wintry vengeance. from the dakotas to new england. powerful winds stirred up whiteout conditions. many schools were closed, flights were canceled. and thousands of people lost power. a second wave of snow is zeroing in on upstate new york and new england today.

several inches are already on the ground in massachusetts and rhode island. by the end of the day, parts of vermont, new nd me he should be buried under a foot of snow. from the snow to the killer storms in the south and the midwest, we're covering it all later on "good morning america." >> folks were talking about a mild winter. it's officially over. more breaking news from the seychelles this morning. the disabled cruise ship has finally docked after three days at sea with no power. >> more than 1,000 people have been trapped on that ship without electricity since monday when the again rater fire occurred. no shower, toilets, lights. so far, the disembarking process is going well. >> reporter: they seem very, very organized. buses are waiting to take them to hotels. clearly, the priority is a hot shower and a hot meal. >> absolutely. best shower they'll probably

ever take. esp especially true because passengers are being greeted by sticky, humid conditions in the seychelles. temperatures there in the mid 90s. students at the ohio school where a fatal shooting took place are planning a show of support this morning. they'll march from the town square to the school. teachers returned to the school for the first time yesterday. classes are set to resume tomorrow. the suspect, t.j. lane, is expected to be charged today. to politics now. five days until super tuesday. the republican candidates are stumping for votes from the south to the pacific northwest. mitt romney changed tactics yesterday, attacking president obama instead of his chief rival, rick santorum. the president is expected to raise more than $4 million in new york city tonight. at one of the events, held at an upscale manhattan furniture store, contributors are going to pay nearly 40,000 bucks to break bread with the president. time for the weather from

across the nation. aside from the heavy snowstorm in northern new england, near record highs with thunderstorms in the south. more late-day tornadoes in arkansas, tennessee, missouri, and illinois. heavy mountain snow in the rockies. and the sierra nevada. rain in the pacific northwest. temps from west to east. 46 in seattle. 70 in phoenix. 64 in kansas city. 84 in dallas. 41 in boston. 56 here in new york. 74 in atlanta. coming up on "america this morning," is bank of america at it again? there's word of a new fee for customers. we'll have the details. >> can't believe we're going through this again. also this morning, iraqve medicare. it doesn't cover everything. and what it doesn't cover can cost you some money. that's why you should consider an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company.

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welcome back, everybody. believe it or not, bank of america is thinking about another way to collect more fees. the nation's second largest bank may require basic checking customers to do more business with the bank or if not, pay new monthly fees. last fall, they came under attack prompting a lot of outrage for the new debit card fees. the bank retreated from that plan. the federal reserve says it's been a good year so far. for the economy. chairman ben bernanke testified on capitol hill. the fed issued its latest beige book report. 5u8 dikts saw some growth in the

first month and half. hiring rose slightly in many districts. the report says employers are under little pressure to raise wages. and checking the markets. tokyo's nikkei average fell 16 points today. hong kong's hang seng slid 292 points. in london, the ftse opened lower. on wall street, the dow was back below 13,000 after falling 53 points yesterday. the nasdaq index broke 3,000 for a few seconds and ended up losing 20 points. and closing lower. the major slump for securities firms is having an effect on wall street. bonuses for last year are shrinking, down about 14%. that is a sharp drop from the year before. it's the lowest level since the financial crisis began. some bonus better than no bonus. google's new privacy policy goes into effect today. it allows the company to information about all users and combine it. european regulators say it may be illegal there.

but you can opt out. viola davis may have lost the best actress oscar, but meryl streep is making it up to her. streep is donating $10,000 to a bankrupt school in davis' hometown in rhode island. and another ten grand to a college scholarship program there, both in davis' name. >> class act. well done. not bad. >> maybe she should just send the oscar. >> send the gold, right. coming up next, researchers finding new benefits from that morning cup of coffee. good news for us. and a week for weather. whipping up giant waves on the great lakes. we'll be right back. on the great lakes. we'll be right back.

well, that midwest blizzard was quite a snowmaker. check what else it turned up. that's waves on lake superior.

winds up to 70 miles an hour. something you would see on the ocean. this is just a lake. your neck of the woods. >> familiar with the great lakes. love them dearly. wet on i-95 from the carolinas to providence. snow on i-15, 70, 84, and 90 the rockies. if you're flying today, airport delays possible in boston, new york, salt lake city, san francisco, and l.a. president obama paid tribute to war veterans at a formal white house dinner last night. 200 vets and their guests represented the nearly 1 million who served in iraq and the 4500 who never came back. >> many of them will head to afghanistan, where tfter the high after the u.s. troops mistakenly burned copies of the koran. bob wood ward talked to the president about that.

>> the reason it was important was to save lives. to make sure our troops there have not in further danger. >> reporter: has it improved things? >> it calmed things down. we're not out of theed woos yet. >> more evidence this morning of not being out of the woods. we're just getting word that two u.s. service members were killed in afghanistan by an afghan soldier. another california school is embroiled in a scandal. a teacher in modesto quit his job, left his wife and kids and moved in with that 18-year-old student. 41-year-old james booker says he and jordan powers are following their hearts.hearts. they say their relationship did not turn physical until she was

18. booker's daughter was a junior at the same school as jordan. at another school, panic thanks to the autocorrect function on a smart phone. in georgia yesterday, a message went from gonna be at west hall today to gunman be at west hall today. the high school and middle school wept into lockdown before it was all sort t out. >> especially considering the news of this week, that mousse have been awful. a new study finds your ability to do to sleep and stay asleep gets better with age. people with the fewest sleep complaints are in their 80s. they note an increase in sleep problems in middle-age people. more women than men get trouble getting the zs. don't cut out coffee. fans of a good cup of joe have no more risk of heart disease or

cancer than those who don't drink it. coffee drinkers are less likely to end up with type ii diabetes. we turn to espn for the latest in the sports scene. i'm don well with your espn news update. the last time we saw jeremy lin, he had his worst game as a starter. thursday before the all-star game against the heat. lin and the knicks taking on the cavs at the garden. at one point, day trailed by 17. steve novak going bananas. sticks a three. knicks taking an 82-80 lead. novak again. five threes in the game. just 17 off the bench. another one from the corner. right there. the knicks outscoring the cavs 71-42 in the second half. lin, one of his 13 assists.

19 points. just one turnover. they go on to win 120-103. a big bounceback for new york. to the college game. ohio state visiting northwestern. the wildcats on the ncaa bubble. butford for the buckeyes. northwestern, trying to come back. down by a dozen. how about the three from alex. now dave in the corner. the wildcats storming back. marco tulio again. with ten seconds left on the clock. drills the long ball. look at the crowd in evanston. in the back ground as they watch. the south paw sticks the long ball. we're tied up at 73-73. they went to jared. team high 22 points. ohio hi state up by two. john sherna, no good. ohio state wins, 75-73.

the wildcats are still on the bubble. i'm don bell. this is your espn news update. . you were cringing. inside the palace that air jordan built. his mansion is now on the market. and snooki in the headlines. the late-night comics take notice. i'd race down that hill without a helmet. i took some steep risks in my teens. i'd never ride without one now. and since my doctor prescribed lipitor, i won't go without it for my high cholesterol. why kid myself? diet and exercise weren't lowering my cholesterol enough. now i'm eating healthier, exercising more, taking lipitor. numbers don't lie. my cholesterol has stayed down. and here's another number you might be interested in. lipitor may be available for as little as $4 a month with the lipitor co-pay card.

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time to check "the pulse." we start with the texas grandma looking to become the newest cheer leader for the dallas cowboys. >> soon to be 66-year-old sharon similar mons says there's no difference between her body and the 20 smls now on the squad. >> she's a grandma? really? she competes in fitness competitions. we'll find ut in may if she made the cut. >> age is a state of mi> the net the next story jolted the blo blogosphere yesterday. snooki is reportedly going to be a mom. >> impending mother hood maybe

not surprising but funny. >> i thought snooki was a baby. you mean to tell me that tiny little person that falls down, slobbers, and pees all over herself is an tult. >> she was spot reading this book over the week end. what to drink when you're expected. this is motherly advice for baby snooki. >> i will pee in a bush, i will poo in a bush, i will hide in a bush. >> all right. >> snooki may want to consider bigger digs for her and the little one on the way. michael jordan's old place, or shall we say old palace is up for sale. $29 million. 66,000 square feet. nine bedrooms, 15 baths, 5 fireplaces. a three-bedroom guest house and a custom indoor basketball

complex. >> it's good to be air jordan. you think you take off all your make-up before bed.

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updating the top stories this morning. at least 12 people have died in destructive weather that hit the midwest and the south. a similar storm could pose an

even greater danger starting tomorrow. passengers aboard the disabled ship for three days have arrived at the seychelles. tents have been set up to provide the help they need. and breaking news. two u.s. soldiers were killed by an afghan soldier and a civilian likely tied to the outrage over burning korans. evening tornadoes from arkansas to illinois. showers and thunderstorms in the southeast. up to a foot of snow in northern new england. finally from us this morning, remembering a former heart throb who mesmerized millions of teenage girls. >> davy jones has died of a heart attack at the age of 66. he was the most popular member of the monk koees dave wright. ♪ here we come >> reporter: they were the first ever real boy band. ♪ hey, hey, we're the monkees

>> reporter: the pre-fab four, created by american tv producers, looking to cash in on the beatles. davy jones was the heart throb. the littlest one, who fell in love every episode. and always got the girl. >> we don't have another job. so -- >> oh, thank you, davy. >> reporter: including marcia, marcia, marcia. that episode of "the brady bunch," where she asks him to sing at the prom. >> when is your prom? >> friday night. >> okay. friday night it is. >> reporter: is the single-most rerun episode of television. ever. when "star trek" introduced a new character in its second season -- >> um, mr. chekhov. >> what can i do, captain? >> reporter: mr. chekhov was styled like davy jones to appeal to younger viewers. davy jones had that same effect on generations. >> a girl came up to me in a hotel and said, i'm coming to the show with my mother tonight.

i thought, well, that's great. and my grandmother. i went, whoa. ♪ cheer up, sleepy jean >> reporter: something about those starry eyes and that mop top simply made 'em swoon. ♪ to a daydream believer and a homecoming queen ♪ >> reporter: david wright, abc news, los angeles. >> and coming up later on "good morning america," band mate mickey dolenz will join us to share his personal memories. >> they started making music together nearly 50 years ago. coming up on "gma" right here on abc. >> iconic show. unbelievable. that's what's making news in america this morning. >> stay with us for "good morning america." have a great thursday. closed captioning by closed captioning services,inc